Australia needed a break and finally got one

Southeast Australia has been in a three-year drought and you’ve no doubt heard about the devastating brush fires they’ve been fighting since December. A billion animals gone, more than thirty deaths, and almost 50,000 square miles destroyed. That would amount to one-fifth of Texas!

Illustration of 50,000 acres

They need rain, and over the weekend they finally got it. A trough of low pressure slowly moved into New South Wales, dropping 15 inches of rain, and more is in the forecast the rest of the week.

Getty Images: Dangerous swimming! Getty Images: Beach Erosion with crashing waves Getty Images: This may not look like much to us, but it's huge help for Sydney

This has extinguished half the brushfires and three of the biggies that were causing some of the worst problems. You can see the best coverage of the storm here at the Daily Telegraph (or just Google for more info). It wasn’t all crazy swimming as a lot of evacuations took place and plenty of damage occurred to homes and roads. While, thankfully, the fire issues have gotten under control for now, the fact is the fire season lasts until late April. So, the fight will continue.